Microatx Or Atx Sockect 939 MOBO

hi everybody heres the scoop my comp died a friend of mine suggested that i upgrade to a Microatx socket 939 so i can use the same case i have but the problem i have is simple i need a machine thats reliable and compatable with most the parts i already have. My late machine had a 462 socket MOBO in it with a AMD 1600 cpu.

I have 2 sticks of ddr 2100 or 2700 memory i cant remeber which i would like to use in my new machine and my current harddrive. and my current video card. all parts are functioning and no viruses that i have found anyway.

My reason for pening this thread is simply cause i have been researching the microatx MOBO but have noticed a lot of people saying that it is not for top notch use mainly for personal home.

I need a machine that can back up my movies and still mutlitask on other programs and simply be reliable.

this will be my first machine that i assemble from scratch my self so all input will be appreciated thanx.

 

Chances are any new board you buy wil say what the spec is and you'll see that the parts are compatible.
I would stear towards ATX as in future it will be compatible with more parts such as the larger video cards.
You'll also get more room for mounting heatsink fans etc...
If you use both memory sticks, you will drop the higher spec module to the same performance of the lowest installed in the machine (something to think about)

 

What do you mean when u say "If you use both memory sticks, you will drop the higher spec module to the same performance of the lowest installed in the machine (something to think about)"

 

If you use memory of different speeds in the same machine, the pc will only use the memory at the speed of the lowest installed memory module, regardless of the speed of the better module.
So it is worth thinking about the performance impact of using a lower speed memory module with a higher one.
You'll have more available system memory, but the speed at which your memory will work will be slower than if you left the slower memory out of the system.
You should really run memory modules that are of the same rating, for optimal performance they should also be the same make and models.
Chances are, any new board you buy will be dual channel capable, so having a mix of memory is not a good idea (it will work) just not as good as it should.

 

Ok i understand now. Sorry for making you explain like i said this will be my first machine i will be building. both memory sticks i plan on using are both 512. one is a kingston 2700 The other is a Crucial Technologies pc 2100. I do have a 256 pc 2700 that i could combine with the kingston 512 so thank you very much for letting me know that that affects pc performance. I didn't relize how big of a difference that can make.


The hard drive I plan on suing is a 40 gig western digital hardfrive. The video card I plan on using is a radieon 9200 128 mb.

 

The fact that you have a few different modules isn't going to make too much performance difference overall.
The system will still run fine, just not optimally.
Once you're up and running you'll see where the limitations are, if your system is running fine on the 768 MB ram then just stick with it.
If you find that you need more memory then just change the 256, it will run slower but it’s not like you'll be noticing it all the time.

 

okay so here is my next question? is there really a diference between the microatx and the atx or what? I understand that the regular atx will be more compatable but as far as use which would be best??

 

I so miss my extra pci slots. Im on a Aopen micro atx and with modern video cards rendering the closest pci slot to it useless I have no avail pci slots after I install my soundcard

 

so then the regular atx is the better option

 

alright im not gonna stress the case cause i can just pick up a new one. Now How about a power supply? Will i need to replace that with another or can i use my old power supply?????